The Creation of Seven Days

The idea for Seven Days was conceived during the second of the English lockdowns of 2020, when I was introduced (online) to the artist Mina Kupfermann.

With a shared interest in the mystical, after several discussions we began an artistic dialogue responding to the seven days of creation from The Torah (The Old Testament). These ‘responses’ in the initial stages, took the form of very short sound files and splashes of colour which over several months, began to take the form of what you will experience soon in an animated film.

With the lockdown prohibiting the meeting of other people and not knowing how long the restrictions would be in place, I decided to plan the instrumentation of what I had available to me. Messiaen’s unusual choice of instruments had too been determined by what was available to him and I found this idea very liberating. Under normal circumstances I doubt I would have thought of combining this group of instruments.

It was also the pro-life and stances taken by both Oliver Messiaen and Viktor Frankl, who inspired me to use the limitations as an opportunity to create something that defied the negativity of the lockdown. Frankl’s powerful message of how we choose to respond to a situation being a freedom that was always ours to choose, was highly motivating.

While Messiaen looked towards his faith in Christianity and the book of Revelations to inform the theme of his quartet (for the end of time), I wanted to examine time in the context of life being still in its infancy. The phrase ‘in the beginning’ from the book of Genesis entered my thoughts regularly.

The harmonic language of Seven Days has a diverse mixture of influences: from Takemitsu to Messiaen, to traditional klezmer and to Jimi Hendrix. I was interested in avoiding the cliches associated with the electric guitar and wanted instead to explore the combinations of timbre that this unique instrument combination offered. Each of the movements is unique in style but also connected to the next movement. Melodic and rhythmic gestures reoccur throughout.

Each movement up until day six has corresponding instruments, with the final day interpreting the God number ‘7’, in the duration of the music, lasting also for seven minutes.

Instrumentation

Bb Trumpet, Piano, Classical guitar, Electric guitar, Flute and Chinese drum

The Premiere of at Blackheath Halls

The prints below by Mina Kupfermann, can be purchased from the link below!

https://makupfermann.wixsite.com/seven-days-prints